4 Razors

First Blood

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  • Title: First Blood
  • IMDb: link

“You’re dealing with an expert in guerrilla warfare, with a man who’s the best with guns, with knives, with his bare hands.  A man who’s been trained to ignore pain, ignore weather, to live off the land, to eat things that would make a billy goat puke.  In Vietnam his job was to dispose of enemy personnel; to kill, period.  Win by attrition.  Well, Rambo was the best.”

First BloodBack in 1982 a young Sylvester Stallone, with only a half-dozen movie roles under his belt, and no hits outside the Rocky franchise, decided to take on the starring role in a film based on David Morrell’s 1972 novel about a Vietnam War Veteran finding himself involved in war against a sheriff in a small town.  The script had been passed on by many actors, needed an extensive rewrite, and production held its own difficulties in the cold forests of British Columbia.  What came out of the experience, one which Stallone admits he was foolish to attempt, is one of his most memorable performances and the start to a new franchise.  Come inside the Full Diagnosis and meet John Rambo.

After learning the only other surviving member of his squad has died from a illness carried back from Vietnam, John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) drifts into a small town where he draws the ire of the shit-kicker chief of police (Brian Dennehy) and his band of hick deputies (who include a young David Caruso).  Pride and misunderstanding begin a situation that finds Rambo on the run, the Sheriff’s deputies injured, the National Guard called in, and a man hunt which brings in Rambo’s commanding officer (Richard Crenna) with a plea to stand down.

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Meet the Savages

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Savages
  • IMDb: link

The SavagesWritten and directed by Tamara Jenkins (Slums of Beverly Hills) The Savages tells the tale of a dysfunctional family brought back together to deal with illness and the hovering specter of death.  With a bittersweet tone, finding humor in human frailty and the stark drama, it’s a film definitely worth you time.

Jon Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a college professor and writer of scholarly work in Buffalo.  Wendy Savage (Laura Linney) works temp jobs and is a struggling playwright in New York City.  The pair are brought back together to deal with their estranged father’s (Philip Bosco) increasing dementia and failing health.

This is a film about the tough choices and circumstances families go through with the ailing of their parents.  It doesn’t shy away from the pain and guilt inherent in the tough but necessary choices so many families are put through dealing with parents who can no longer take care of themselves.

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Charlie Wilson’s War

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Charlie Wilson’s War
  • IMDb: link

“You can teach them to type, but you can’t teach them to grow tits.”

Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), a junior Congressman from a small district in Texas, did the impossible.  Not only did he spearhead the largest covert war in United States history, but he kept it a secret for years.

Wilson, a member of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee and the only Congressman from a district “who doesn’t want anything,” was in an unique position to change the world while nobody was looking.

After learning about the Afghan resistance against the Soviets, and being cajoled into providing more assistance by a powerful political contributor (Julia Roberts), Wilson with the help of his friends and CIA operative Gust Avrakotots (Philip Seymour Hoffman), over the course of the decade began increasing the money, weapons, and training being put into Afghanistan and began fighting a covert war which only a scant few even knew was taking place.  And we aren’t talking a small increase here; we’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars.

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A Rare Treasure

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: National Treasure
  • IMDb: link

National Treasure

National Treasure is a treasure hunting movie of the finest caliber.  With great locations, strange clues that must be deciphered intertwined into U.S. history, a race against time to find the treasure, a great cast, and peppered with action sequences but with its soul relying on the characters’ intellect rather than only their brawn, it’s all you can ask for, and a little more.  Disney has had mixed success in its live action movies, but this can be put alongside the best of the bunch.

The movie begins with John Adams Gates (Christopher Plummer) telling his grandson the story of a great treasure of King Solomon passed down through the generations and protected by the Knights Templar and Freemasons who eventually smuggle the treasure to the New World and hide it, leaving a series of clues by which it might later be uncovered.  Through mischance the Gates family has the only known clue to the treasure which he now passes on to his grandson.

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August Rush

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: August Rush
  • IMDb: link

“I believe in music the way some people believe in fairy tales.”

august-rush-posterThere are two stories here.  The first involves a young orphan (Freddie Highmore) with untapped musical talent who leaves the orphanage to “follow the music” and find his parents.  His journey leads to new friends (Leon G. Thomas III, Jamia Simone Nash), a stint as a street musician under the control of the Fagin-esque Wizard (Robin Williams, in a cowboy hat), and a trip to Juliard where his talent blossoms.

The second story (shown mostly in flashbacks) involves cellist Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell) and rock band member Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers).  Their chance meeting a decade before was dashed by Lyla’s father (William Sadler) separating them for years. 

Lyla’s unexpected pregnancy puts her career at risk and her father snatches up a chance accident to make her believe her son is dead.  Jumping back to the present Lyla learns the truth and with the help of a social worker (Terrence Howard) begins to search for the son she’s never met.  At the same time across the country Louis facing his own midlife crisis searches out the woman who he still loves.

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